ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



309 



Spotted Pclidnota ; Krror rcg^ardin^ it — J. 



P. (;;TOs,7'«(7V«,C'cn//v,i\'. J'. — Vowrlicetle is the .Spotted 

 rclutiiot:i, ol' wliicli VdU will liiul ;i full account in the 

 lu-escnt nunilier. The little lirmize-i-dlorecl riluitc'il eo-irs 

 aretlioscof a true bu^' {//etov.jii/fnO. ami ymi :iir i iilir. ly 

 mistaken in supposing,' them t" he the e;r;;s ni llii- Ihi He. 

 No beetle is ever hatched from tlie egy a pcrlict lirrilc. 

 any more than a bird is hatched perfect and fidl fletlged 

 from its egg, 



PricKIy Rose Gall — Hiihsciiher, Pickens Sta., Miss. 

 —The pretty little prickly 

 galls whicli you founil on 

 a wild rose, and which we 

 illustrate herewith (Fig. 

 I'M), may lie appropriately 

 known in popular language 

 as the I'rickly Ilose-gall. It 

 is made by a rather large 

 ,i;all-Hy {Mhodites himloi; 

 llarr.) whicli has a blaclc 

 and rough-punctured head 

 and thorax, and a smooth, 

 highly polished, brownish- 

 red body. The color of the 

 gall varies with its age; the 

 young gall often being of a 

 beautiful rose-color, and coior-Eiiiicr 

 reminding one of a strawberry, the mature gall being 

 more generally green, and the old last year's galls being 

 dull silvery -gray. 



tlnestions answered — A'. Parsons, Cambridge, 

 Mass.— The small case found on your sister's dress was, 

 so far as we could make out, that of some clothes moth. 

 The Clothes moths, and many of those moths whicli 

 live upon vegetable substances, consti-uct a tubular 

 (hvelling of the material on which they feed, and drag 

 it about with them during the larvastage; in most cases 

 it serves also as a cocoon for the linal transformations. 

 Only one larva inhabits each case. The cocoons at- 

 tached to the skin of tin- i-.itripillar you send are those 

 ofa parasitic Miavijnsi, r. The iii-c ris on the hawthorn 

 twig arc the common ( lystn-slirll llark-louse. The 

 young, when first lialdu'd li-.jin the egg, arc minute 

 whitish, oval, six-footed creatures, very active, and 

 scarcely visible without the aid of a microscope. As 

 they remain active but a few days before lixing them- 

 selves to the bark, they sliould be attacked as soon as 

 hatched. Ants frequently vary their diet with soft and 

 heliiless or disabled insects. 



Hog:-caterpilIar of the Vine infested ivitli 



Parasilcs— t/. M. Wilson, Sterling, Ills. — Your Grape- 

 vine worm is the above-named species (Ghmrocampa 

 pampinatri.!) , and the little white cocoons are those of 

 the same little Microgaster referred to and illustrated at 

 Figure 15 of this volume. 



Larva of Abbot Sphinx— .V. E. Todd, New Yo-lc. 

 —The worm wliirli you found on your grapevine.s, and 

 which measured ni'arly lour and a half inches in length, 

 is the larva of the Abbot .Sphinx (Thyreus Abhotii, A. E., 

 II, Fig. 81). The catch-'ein-and-kill-'eiu remedy is the 

 best you can adoiit in this instance. 



Cecropia Worm— £". G. Hofman, St. Louis, Mo.— 

 Your worm on rium is the Ceeroiiia worm (Fig. (ji of 

 this volume). 



Flat-Iicadc<l Korcr in Soft Maples— Z. R. 



FMivtt. Mai,lnitla:i. /ui»x.— 'I'lir l);imm(i--beaded borers 

 which you s.-nd, ami whicli lind killrd :i line SoftMaplc 

 tree, arc the Flat-headed Api>lc-trce Borer (Vhnjso- 

 hothris femorata, Fabr.) Thi.s insect is greatly diim- 

 aging the Soft Maples in many of our Western to^ns, 

 and unless piecautions are taken to prevent such a 

 catastroiihe. this line tree will soon be as badly injured 

 all over the' cnuiitry as the Black Locust has been by its 

 borer (Jrf.'/'u^/s mhiiu'.i:). AVe wish we could whisper 

 into the ear of every man who plants a Soft Jtiiple, that 

 unless he thoroughly soaps the trunk and larger branches 

 once or twice every summer, his tree will not last pro- 

 babh- more than half a dozen years. We notice this 

 licMutifnl sliiide tree dying wlierever wc go, when a 

 little kmiwlnlge of these " contemptible bugs" would 

 have ciKiblr.l their owiiei's to save them. Two appli- 

 cations nl'suiip (Uirin;- the year— the one as early as the 

 beginning nt .May. ilir otber any time during .summer — 

 will protcit I lit: tiii> IVoni its attacks. Be caretiil also 

 not to bruise or injure the bark in any way. 



CUerrr Plant-lice and tlieir Foes— C. //. Jio- 



beris, Poughlceepsie, N. J'.— The Plant-lice ou the cherry 



trees are the above-named .species (Aphis cerasi, Linn.) 



The mag.gots "of beautiful colors" which feed witli 



such gluttony on these lice 



are tlie larva; of some Syr- 



phus-fly; and the darker, 



more active larva, is that of 



the Convergent Lady-bird 



(Hippodamia convergent, Gu.), 



which we illustrate herewith 



" '' " (Fig. 103), a showing the 



orauKt-ml.biaok and white.' beetle. Both these last in- 

 sects are very u.seftd in destroying the plant-lice, and 

 both pass through their transformations on or near the 

 place where the larva is found. The Syrphax pupa is 

 attached by the whole length of the under surface, 

 while that of the lady -bird hangs by the tail irom the 

 bark or leaf of the tree. 



Grape-vine Flca-bectlc — The .steel-blue beetle 

 which has done so much damage to your vines is the 

 above-named insect (Haltica chalyhea. 111.) The brown 

 "slugs" or "worms" accompanying them are the 

 young of the same. It is probably the Grape-vine Saw- 

 fly (Selandria vitis, Harris) in the larva state, that you 

 allude to as having a tadpole form. Harris recommends 

 lime dusted on the leaves; also a wash of one pound of 

 hard soap to five gallons water— ;. «., strong soapsuds. 



Blood .Sucker and Pear Slag— Geo. A. Watson, 

 Maysville, Ay.— The black bug, of which you once found 

 a specimen, gorged with your own blood, under a mat- 

 tress, was too much mutilated to be recognizable, though 

 we can tell you with certainty that it belongs to the 

 great Jiedmius lamily. The fragments seem to be- 

 long to the Black Corsair {Pirates picipes, H. Sch.), 

 the beak of which we know to be very sharp and 

 poisonous. All bugs are suckers either of the juices 

 of plants or of the fluids of animals, and many species 

 vary their diet at will. Instances are frequent of bugs, 

 whose ordiiniry food is ofa vegetable character, pierc- 

 ing and sucking the blood of human beings. 



The Pear slug {.Selandria cerasi, Peck) is easily de- 

 stroyed by dusting the trees with lime. Coal oil will 

 injure the tree. Strong so.apsuds will be useful, but 

 slacked lime is better. 



